The invention relates generally to chronometers and more particularly to a chronometer which indicates elapsed time in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. The chronometer is designed to indicate the elapsed time in terms of an easily understandable time division arrangement in order to provide elapsed time indication with which the user can emotionally interact so that it has a uniquely personal (and human) relevance to the user.
For athletic sporting events as well for many other applications, it is desirable to have a device which can indicate to the user the elapsed time from a given or desired start time, rather than actual time based on an established standard, such as, for example, Greenwich mean time. Consequently, many devices have been designed which indicate elapsed seconds, fractions of seconds, minutes and sometimes hours. Such devices often indicate elapsed time to a high degree of accuracy depending on the particular application.
Many modern timepieces have features which indicate both actual time in terms of minutes, seconds and hours as well as month and day of the month or day of the week. U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,476 to Berney is an example of a modern wristwatch type of timepiece which controls and drives the day of the month display in addition to indicating actual time.
Some prior art timepieces combine elapsed time capabilities with actual time capabilities in order to provide more versatility to the timepiece. An example of a conventional watch with stopwatch features is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,526 to Tanaka. The Tanaka device indicates actual time and, in response to switch actuation, converts to a stopwatch indicating seconds to a very high degree of accuracy.
Some timepieces have been specifically designed to indicate elapsed calendar time in order to fill a particular specialized need. An example of such a timepiece is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,935 to Zettek. The Zettek device has both a circuit for counting and a window for displaying the number of days since the initiation of a goal objective. However, a primary disadvantage of the Zettek device is that it is limited to indicating only elapsed days.
Another example of a prior art timepiece indicating elapsed time is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,906 to Jezbera. The Jezbera is a time indicator that counts and displays the number of days that have elapsed since the beginning of a woman's menstrual period. Thus, the Jezbera timepiece is of particular use to women who practice the rhythm method of birth control. However, as with the Zettek device, a primary limitation of the Jezbera device is that it counts only elapsed calendar days. Consequently, since the Jezbera device as well as the Zettek device do not have elapsed hour, minute and other elapsed calendar time capabilities, they are very limited in the practical applications in which they may be used.
A chronometer is thus needed that can count and indicate both elapsed horological and elapsed calendar time. An elapsed time chronometer is also needed that can be used in many different types of applications which require a count and indication of elapsed time.